Bundesliga Round 20 Results: Sorry Schalke stunned by Furth

By Enis Koylu

The relegation candidates had not won since August, but claimed a 2-1 victory at the Veltins Arena to heap more misery on the Gelsenkirchen outfit

WERDER BREMEN 2-0 HANNOVER

Werder Bremen kicked off the weekend's action by claiming a 2-0 win over Hannover thanks to two late strikes.

The match appeared to be heading for a goalless draw, when Eljero Elia ducked and weaved in from the right-hand side and pulled the ball back for Nils Petersen, who sent an excellently-placed first-time shot past Ron-Robert Zieler in the H96 goal.

Petersen was not done there, though. Seconds later, Ozkan Yildirim picked up the ball on the left and chipped it into the path of the former Bayern Munich man, who sent a superb volley in off the post to secure all three points.

This win sees Bremen rise to 11th place, a mere point behind Hannover in 10th.

FORTUNA DUSSELDORF 3-1 STUTTGARTFortuna Dusseldorf pulled further away from the relegation zone with a 3-1 win over Stuttgart.

It was the hosts who came out of the blocks the quicker of the two teams. A free kick 25 yards from goal was deflected kindly into the path of Robbie Kruse, who finished coolly from inside the box, despite Swabian appeals for offside.

Eight minutes from the break, it was two. Ken Islo bent a perfectly-weighted through ball round the back of the defender and into the path of Kruse, who stroked the ball beyond Sven Ulreich to give his side a comfortable lead.

After the restart, Stuttgart temporarily cut the deficit to one goal when Ibrahima Traore skipped down the left and centred it to Christian Gentner, who guided the ball home on the volley from the right-hand side of the penalty area.

Howver, Dusseldorf soon killed off any hopes of a revival, with Oliver Fink sending a powerful drive from distance past the grip of Ulreich with 15 minutes to spare.

HOFFENHEIM 2-1 FREIBURG

Hoffenheim gave their chances of survival a boost by claiming a shock 2-1 win over Freiburg at the Rhein Neckar Arena.

Unsurprisingly, it was Freiburg who started the better of the two teams. Max Kruse picked up the ball in the left-hand channel, and although Heurelho Gomes saved his first effort, he was able to latch on to the rebound and pass it into the net.

However, Hoffenheim fought back and Roberto Firmino soon saw an effort bounce off the post, but fall kindly into the path of Kevin Volland, who tapped it home.

The turnaround was complete 15 minutes later when Tobias Weis pulled the ball back from the byeline to Volland, who tucked it home.

Hoffenheim are now out of the bottom two, with Augsburg's draw seeing them slip back into the automatic relegation places.

WOLFSBURG 1-1 AUGSBURGAugsburg's recent revival continued when they claimed a 1-1 draw against Wolfsburg at the Volkswagen Arena.

It was the hosts who started the stronger of the two teams, with Naldo heading them into the lead from a Diego corner midway through the first half.

Wolfsburg are the only current Bundesliga team never to have beaten the Bavarian strugglers, and just two minutes later, it was ensured that run continued when a poorly cleared cross fell to Koo Ja-Cheol, who played it into the path of Jan Moravek, who finished well to claim a draw.

Despite this result, Augsubrg slip back into the relegation places thanks to Hoffeneheim's win.

SCHALKE 1-2 GREUTHER FURTH

Schalke's sorry run of form continued as they were beaten 2-1 at home by lowly Greuther Furth, who claimed their first win since August.

After a goalless first half, Michel Bastos announced himself to the Veltins Arena faithful just seconds after the restart with a stunning debut strike from 20 yards.

However, things soon went downhill for Jens Keller's side. Just five minutes later, Nikola Djurdjic raced down the left and pulled it across the face of goal for Felix Klaus, who reacted faster than the static Schalke defence to equalise at the far post.

The match appeared to be heading for a draw that suited neither team, but right at the death, poor defending let the hosts down once more. Again, Djurdjic stormed down the left and crossed, and although Ilir Azemi's initial shot was parried by Hildebrand, he managed to get into the area and head it into the corner of the net.

Despite claiming victory at the Veltins Arena, Furth remain rooted to the bottom of the table, 10 points clear of guaranteed safety.

HAMBURG 0-2 EINTRACHT FRANKFURTEintracht Frankfurt kept up their pursuit of an unlikely top-four finish by beating Hamburg 2-0 at the Imtech Arena in Saturday's late kick-off.

The first arrived midway through the first half. Alexander Meier whipped in a hopeful cross from the right which found Stefan Aigner, who forced it across the face of goal to Srdjan Lakic, who grabbed his first goal since May 2011 with the simplest of tap-ins.

On the 35-minute mark, the same duo combined to devastating effect once more, with Aigner delivering a lovely cross onto Lakic's head, and the Croatian sent a header beyond Rene Adler to round off the victory.

NURNBERG 2-1 BORUSSIA MONCHENGLADBACH

Borussia Monchengladbach's chances of reaching the European places were dealt a blow when they lost 2-1 to Nurnberg in Bavaria.

The hosts had not won a Bundesliga game under Michael Wiesinger, but got off to a great start when Timmy Simons put them ahead from the spot on four minutes, after Roel Brouwers fouled Mike Frantz.

Things got even better for Nurnberg 25 minutes later, when Hiroshi Kiyotake charged upfield and played in Tomas Pekhart, who smashed the ball into the far corner, past Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Gladbach fought back after the break, and although Patrick Herrmann pulled one back with a fine finish after a Luuk de Jong flick-on, the Bavarians were able to hold on and claim three vital points.

This result means Gladbach remain in seventh place, with Nurnberg falling further away from the drop zone.